Thursday, March 31, 2011

February/March Speak

FIND US ON TWITTER! i created a whole account dedicated to my children's musings. so fun! it's under twitter.com/chattyolives.


S: "the other town was starving, but we're even starvier." -feb. 1st

G (singing): "black sheep, black sheep, have you any wool, yessir, yessir, three bags full. one for the miss, had a great kiss..." -feb. 8

G: "Posterman" (postman!) -feb.8

G (praying): "thank you for mommy, and Jesus of the Lord, and baby, and basket and flower and hippopotamus and leaf and skirt. amen. and for mommy and daddy. amen."  -feb. 8

G: "when jacob was running away from esau, daddy went to the office to read the Bible." -feb. 13

S: "it would be sad, if somebody would trade husbands with you, and then somebody would think that thomas was a not-obeying-God man." -feb. 16 (where do they get this stuff?)

G & S (singing): "I've got the love of Jesus in my mouth!" feb. 16

G: "i need to wipe my hand fart." (trying to say "hand first.")
S: "she said 'hand-fart!' can i have a hand fart?"  -feb. 16

S: "mom, remember when you used to say, 'he who does not work has to eat gravel.'?" -feb. 19 (i never said that! i said, 'he who does not work does not eat!')

S: "i wanna write a story about a girl named... party heart." -feb. 19

G: "i was crying, and i was making the noisest." -feb. 24

G: "i don't want to pee on your hair, pecause...i don't want to." -feb. 27 (when i leaned over her while she was going, she could feel my hair on her back and was getting concerned.)

(me joking around with S): "someday i'm gonna be ooolllld and decrepit, and you're gonna have to take care of me!"
S: "...and then you're gonna die when you're for--...six--...one-ninety-hundred!"
me: "ha! thank you for not saying forty!" -march 8

(going to a big resale at church)
G: "we're going to the sale-boat!" -march 11

(i put sunscreen on G)
G: "i got my sunflower screen." -march 11

G: "i wanna go to da coffee shopping." -all the time!

G (quoting her "jesus storybook Bible" CD): "never stopping, never getting up (giving up!), unbreaking, always and for... love." -march 12

S: "how will his crackers get soft?"
me: "because things get softer by the licking them."
S: "can daddy's drum get softer by me licking it?" -march 13

S: "so each of the things have two roles. beans are more cheap but i don't like them the most. and avocados are not as cheap, but i like them more." -march 13

S: "Daddy's gonna be stoked that me and G got spoiled. he's gonna be SO stoked!" -march 16

G: "Jesus was fighting about God, and then Jericho was sleeping in the manger." -march 16

G--current sayings
"hoosannna"
"it's almost valentime!"
(when she is "reading" the Bible): "and the Lord told moses, 'send your best soldier to fight me'..."

G: "bye, mama! i hafta go rescue. i'm going to go rescue myself." -march 24

S: "we can plant a BUNCH of flowers in our little garden, and then we can pick some! we can pick some for our friends, and we can pick some for the slums in india." -march 21

S: "i'm gonna [retend to give you a present, and it's ginna be an empty box, and when you open it you will say, 'nothing's in here!' and i'm gonna say, 'it's a box of relief and a box of faith." (so needed that at that moment!) -march 21

S: "I got out of her belly! I cut a hole into her belly! cause i got a knife and a machete and some scissors and a fork." (what? you lost me at the fork!) -march 27

S: "mommy, i'm so excited to be a grown-up."
me: "oh yeah? what's gonna be your favorite thing about being a grown-up, do you think?"
S: "um...i think my favorite thing is going to be...i get to make dinner, and take care of children."
me: "you're going to be such a good mommy."
S: "...and i don't even care what my hair is gonna look like! ...or what my children's hair is gonna look like!" (that's a big deal for her--haha!) -march 31

G: "i was born in your belly."
S: "yeah. i was born in your belly, and G was born in my belly." -march 31

Monday, March 7, 2011

why i love missionaries

since coming back to AZ to live among wycliffe Bible translators, I have been reminded of just how much I love missionaries. love. they really have a culture of their own, out here, and i'll wager than any missionary has a bit of that same flair marking his/ her life.what is it? it's basically a deep-seated knowledge about the things that matter. the most. a despising of pretenses. all mingled with a great frugality. we don't mind being a little ghetto. ghetto can be a big money saver. and why spend a lot of money just to make your curtains match your carpet and your dishes match...each other, when there are people in the world whose life consists of adobe huts with dirt floors and holey tin roofs--and who are none the sadder for it?

One of my fist big "culture shock" moments--culture shock of stepping out of the missionary culture and into normal american society, that is--came within my first couple of months at Colorado Christian University. My dad had given me a car to drive around when I needed to in high school, and he let me take it to college! Now this thing was manufactured when i was about 4 years old, and had not seen cushy days lately. when we had left it with renters during my 1st year of high school, it somehow got an enormous dent in the side, which of course we had never spent the money to fix--that would be a waste, when the car still ran fine! the thing was pretty hearty and drove well, but was hard to shift, hard to steer, was covered in bumper stickers, had problems with the window, and was just well-used. I remember talking to a few friends on this particular day, when I mentioned one of the problems with my car and said, "I need to get a new car." One of my friends, without missing a beat, said, "you need to get a car." ouch! i couldn't figure out why this comment surprised me so much, but now I know. Americans like Nice Stuff. Missionaries like Stuff That Works. I was thankful I had a vehicle at all, and didn't see why she had to be a snob about it! So here is my tribute--why I love missionaries:

-if you try to brew them a second cup of tea and they notice you've thrown the 1st tea bag in the trash, they come over and pick it out to use again! (ok, some might not, but this has happened in my kitchen.)
-they nonchalantly feed their one-yr-old a piece of cookie that has fallen to the ground--yes, even in front of other people
-they nonchalantly feed their one-yr-old a piece of cookie off someone else's plate after it's been abandoned
-they love hand-me-downs and think of receiving them as practical instead of embarrassing
-they don't have to have their toenails painted all the time
-once you've known them, you always feel like you still know them, no matter how long you've been away
-they are completely comfortable talking to strangers.
-they find it more interesting to sit and talk than to watch TV or movies--and they invent all kinds of creative games like "throw the steak knife on the lawn and see if it sticks"
-if the only available pair of flip flops is 3 sizes too big, they'll take them anyway and just cut off the heels

Writing this blog reminded me of this awesome list some MK's put together awhile back: "You Know You're an MK When..." Check it out! Especially numbers 1, 3, 4, 9, 13, 31, 35, 37, 40, 45, 66, 72, 74, 80, 88, 90, 95, 101, 104, 111, 112, 117, 121, 123, 125, 135, 137, 138, 140, and 141. (ok, that's like all of them! LOL!)